Captain Proton's universe took elements directly from 1930s/1950s sci-fiction comics and their tv or film dramatisations. One influences was Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Buck Rogers first appeared as Anthony Rogers in a 25,000-word space opera Armageddon - 2419 AD by Philip Francis Nowlan, first published in the August 1928 issue of the popular magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel The Airlords of Han appeared in the March 1929 issue; the Hans were later re-named Mongols. The first artist to cartoon the famous future Americans and soldiers of Han was Frank R. Paul. Amazing Stories broke its policy for the stories and ran, in addition to two full-size illustrations, three cartoon panels - this may have given Nowlan the idea of submitting the entire package to a comic strip syndicate.

The story by Nowlan about Anthony Rogers, published in "Amazing Stories" in August 1928, caught the eye of John Flint Dille, president of the National Newspaper Service syndicate, who commissioned Nowlan to do a science fiction comic strip (the world's first) with artist Richard Calkins. The comic strip, entitled "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" debuted on 7th January 1929, with the character now called by his nickname. It ran consecutively until 1967, and at its peak was published in over 400 newspapers worldwide and was translated into 18 languages. By the time of the radio serial in 1932 (another science fiction first) Buck Rogers had become a national hero. He became the subject of prolific merchandising, with his image on toys, games, crockery and clothing. In 1934 a Virginia department store substituted its Santa Claus for someone dressed as Buck.

According to Nowlan's original stories and comic strips, Buck Rogers is a former U.S. Air Service support pilot who served during World War I. The beginning of the story has him surveying a mine in Pennsylvania where he becomes trapped by a cave-in. He is overcome by a strange, radioactive gas that puts him into suspended animation for 500 years. On awakening (the beginning of the story), he meets and earns the trust of Wilma Deering, who brings him up-to-date. Together they tour magnificent cites of "metalloglass" where 25th century citizens eat synthetic food, almost always travel by air, and have ingenious art-deco gadgets to do the chores. Buck Rogers becomes a captain of Earth's military forces, a secret agent, an intelligence officer and head of the Rocket Rangers, with Wilma as his co-pilot and Dr. Huer as his advisor. They continually battle the forces of evil out to conquer Earth: the Mongols, Killer Kane and the fiendish but beautiful Ardala. The protagonists have ingenious weapons and mechanical devices such as disintegrators, jumping belts, inertron, and paralysis rays.

The popularity of the Buck Rogers comic strip began to decline in the late 1930s as a result of competition from Flash Gordon and other imitators. Nowlan left the comic strip in l939 and resumed writing magazine science fiction but died in early 1940. As with Star Trek, the Buck Rogers technology possesses an aura of prophecy. Armageddon - 2419 AD described the bazooka, jet plane, walkie-talkie for warfare, and infra-red ray gun for fighting at night.

An attempt to revive the Buck Rogers phenomenon occurred in 1951 on live tv using a few small sets in the studio. Episodes lasted 30 minutes and aired every Tuesday evening on ABC. Buck's history was recounted verbally in the first episode: an ordinary American who wakes up to find himself in the year 2430, and his headquarters is a secret science lab in a cave behind Niagara Falls (the city of Niagara was now the capital of the world), from where Buck battles intergalactic villains. The series starred Kem Dibbs who was later replaced as Buck Rogers by Robert Pastene. There is no surviving footage.

After making two serials as Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers' rival for popularity, Larry "Buster" Crabbe took on the role of Buck Rogers in a successful film representation of the same name: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. In this version of the story, Buck Rogers wakes up in the 25th century accompanied by Buddy (in the original comic strip Buddy was Wilma Deering's little brother) after their aircraft crashes in the Arctic in a blizzard (no cave-in accident). On board is a recent invention called Nirvano gas. Buck and Buddy are instructed to inhale it, and it puts them into suspended animation until such a time they can be rescued, but they are not rescued or discovered until 2440 when two future servicemen chance upon them and escort them to the "hidden" city. The world of the future is ruled by the evil despot Killer Kane and his super-gangsters. Buck and Buddy, using an arsenal of fantastic weapons created by the brilliant Dr Huer, seek aid from the planet Saturn against Killer Kane but find the despot's henchmen have taken control of the Prince of Saturn. Our heroes battle the Zugg man, return to Earth, are shot down, imprisoned and rescued, to end with a spectacular space air battle in which the Universe is finally saved from evil. The serial was re-released in edited versions in 1953 as Planet Outlaws for theatrical release, and in 1965 as Destination Saturn for television.

The Captain Proton holoprogram character Buster Kincaid was named as a homage to 'Buster' Crabbe.

From September 1979 to April 1981, Buck Rogers was portrayed on tv in two Seasons, with about 30 stories, several of them 2-hour specials or two-parters.

'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century' - Main Cast

Gil Gerard Captain William "Buck" Rogers	Erin Gray Colonel Wilma Deering
Tim O'Connor Dr. Elias Huer	Pamela Hensley Princess Ardala
Felix Silla Twiki Mel Blanc Voice of Twiki	Thom Christopher Hawk
Jay Garner Admiral Efrem Asimov	Wilfred Hyde-White Dr. Goodfellow
Paul Carr Lieutenant Devlin	Dennis Haysbert Helmsman
Eric Server Voice of Dr. Theopolis	Jeff David Voice of Crichton

Also with:
William Conrad as the Narrator

Two guests are familiar as Star Trek guest regulars: Michael Ansara (two roles, most famously as Kang) appeared in several Buck Rogers stories as Kane, and Mark Lenard (several roles, most famously Sarek, Spock's father) in a two-part Buck Rogers story as Ambassador Duvoe.